


The Dancefloor Saved My Life

by crankyoldman



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dirty Dancing, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-25
Updated: 2012-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankyoldman/pseuds/crankyoldman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That time Rinoa joined an underground dancing movement and changed her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dancefloor Saved My Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irishais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishais/gifts).



The neon sign was supposed to say ‘Balamb’ but the only letters lit were the a’s and the m. Rinoa didn’t have to be told it was a complete hole in the wall of a place, but that’s exactly what she’d been looking for since coming to the seaside resort. Father General had been too busy politicking as usual, so it wasn’t like she’d been missed.

The guy at the door had his hair slicked on the sides and the top too tall, like he was trying to imitate President Deling in his younger days. She smiled sweetly at him and he didn’t bother to check her ID. 

“You lost, sweetheart?”

Maybe she should have changed. Everyone in this Garden--for that was the term that these kinds of places were called, or so the other kids her age had whispered when they didn’t think she was listening--was dressed like they were ready for a war or a catwalk. Maybe both at the same time. She crossed her arms and pulled at one of her arm warmers self-consciously.

“Um, no, this is Balamb Garden, right?”

The older girl that spoke to her had her blonde hair up and out of her big blue eyes, curled and poofed out in a way that gave her a sort of edgy halo. She had the big kind of earrings that her father had always told her made a woman look like they were selling something, but she had always secretly wanted.

“This is the place, but you don’t look like you’re from around here.”

She lifted her chin up and puffed out her chest. “Well I just wanted to come!”

The blonde’s smile was warm, if small and containing all sorts of ironic secrets. She tilted her head to the side. “Name’s Quistis. Try not to gawk, ok?”

“Why would I--”

The music had changed, the lights had dimmed and the crowd parted. Rinoa shut her mouth as two young men seemingly apparated in the middle of the floor.

“They’re dueling.” Quistis said, in a matter-of-fact tone, but low enough to not stand out in the hush. 

The young men stood like statues, staring each other down like warriors in the old times. They couldn’t have been more opposite either, one was tall and blond and tanned, wearing a sleeveless shirt, tight pants and a sneer. The other was shorter, black hair and a pale face, wearing lots of black, a couple of crosses and looked as serious as a grave.

Then the beat dropped.

Warriors made contact, but dancers clearly did not. In fact, the arrogant energy between them was all the more intense in that they came close. Competitive. Despite how opposing they looked, they seemed to be mirroring each other’s moves, one after the other, as is daring the other to be unable to follow. It was hypnotizing--she’d only ever seen marches like her father’s soldiers had done, nothing quite so _elegant_ of movements coming from a couple of men.

And just as soon as the song had come, it was gone, and they both disappeared into opposite sides of the crowd.

“What was that, Quistis?”

“The best, showing off again. They both have far too much pride to work together. A lot of guys look up to them, they’re due to start competing in the SeeD circuit this year.”

“You mean there’s contests for that kind of dancing?”

She nodded. “All kinds.”

A shorter girl with short, straight dark hair came up behind Quistis and put an arm around her. Rinoa hoped she didn’t look too awkward standing there. She was a different kind of glamazon, with elaborate eyeliner around her dark eyes and several bangled bracelets around her wrists. She was pulling something up on her phone.

“Hey, I got a message from that bartender you know, might be able to get us into the Cactuars show this weekend.” Then she suddenly noticed Rinoa. “New friend, Quis?”

“Put away your godphone, Xu. And well...she hasn’t even told me her name.”

“It’s Rinoa. Rinoa... Heartilly.” She didn’t want to give her father’s last name, just in case any of them worked at the resort or had a relative in the military or well. Rinoa had enough issues with her father being so well-known and all.

“So we’ll be seeing you around, eh?”

She nodded, and checked her watch. Rinoa had to get going, or else her absence would be noticed. There was only so long that she could get out before someone noticed that Angelo was sleeping in the bed and no one else.

It wasn’t too hard to slip through the crowd, the music was getting loud again and Quistis and Xu were far more interested in each other at this point to miss her. Rinoa was lost in her thoughts, wondering about how they _moved_ and whether Quistis was part of this whole SeeD thing too...

So lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the boy coming towards her until they’d collided right outside of the Garden. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry!”

He picked a battered old fedora off the ground, where it had ended up after she’d dislodged it from his head. Most of his outfit seemed picked out from various secondhand stores, in a style that wasn’t without its charm but certainly... out there. When he smiled at her she noticed his facial tattoo.

“Naw, it’s ok. My fault, I was in a hurry. Leaving Balamb Garden so soon? It’s just about to get good.”

She was struck by just how nice he was, despite his odd appearance. “Time’s not on my side. But I’ll be back!”

He opened his mouth, but she was already rushing away, pondering what a SeeD competition was like and trying to picture it in her mind’s eye.

\---

“You won’t be too bored if I am in meetings all day for the next couple of days?”

So much for a ‘retreat’. Of course this whole stay away from the city was to keep her out of trouble and she knew it. Rinoa smiled sweetly at her father.

“Oh I’ll manage to entertain myself.”

\---

 

"So why are you all so freakishly talented?"

Quistis laughed at Rinoa's question. Maybe they were starting to become friends, kind of. At least Rinoa had learned to dress better; after a few mishaps with as Xu put it 'precious' clothing, she at least looked like she hung out in these sorts of places more often than not. Of course, if anyone really looked at her they would see just how little she knew about what was going on.

"You know that being able to dance takes practice, right? And if you're competing, doubly so." Xu seemed to always have those sorts of answers, even if most of the time she seemed engrossed in her phone. 

"Yeah but don't you have jobs? How do you find the time?"

Quistis took a sip of something that Rinoa wondered if she could have a glass of herself. "You mean the fact we have day jobs?"

The _Princess_ was an implied word in the phrase, a nickname that she wasn't able to shake that easily, even if she got new friends. At least these friends didn't mean it as an insult.

"I guess."

"Day jobs are different things to different people. Xu and I take ours seriously, but it's not our real passion. If you're lucky enough to pursue that without having a day job, take it."

Rinoa bit her lip. "You think there's someone that can teach me? Like could you?"

This time Xu laughed. "We've just got enough time for our own practice, with a little leftover to sit in BG and relax. How about your bat your big brown eyes at someone else?"

Rinoa frowned, and Quistis gave Xu a look.

"Well, I think Zell was still looking for a partner, right? For the doubles competition."

When she heard the name Zell she wondered if he was one of those powerful attractive types like she'd seen around. Like the duelists or the one guy with the cowboy hat--but that last one had a partner from last she'd seen. Cute one, too.

"Which one is Zell?"

A livelier tune came on, and the boy she ran into the first night was at the edge of a gap in the crowd, stretching. He wasn't wearing the hat this timmae, but his clothes were no less a hodgepodge of styles that together made for a _look_. Rinoa didn't expect much. He was _nice_ and all, but he hardly looked like any of the other good dancers.

"That's Zell."

As Quistis pointed him out, he began to move. Rinoa thought that he was trying something kind of goofy at first, but then realized how deliberate his movements were. He wasn't trying to look sexy like the one with the cowboy hat tended to, or intimidating like the ones who had a duel a while ago. He used his entire body in ways that nearly defied gravity, and moreover, his face was just pure _joy_.

"...I think he'll be a great teacher."

\---

"Maybe we should get you around some more people your age."

"You mean other military brats, so we'll all have stuff in common to talk about?"

Father General frowned. "You're hardly brats."

"And I'm fine."

\---

"Ok so that was the wrong direction. It's this way."

Practice was _hard_. Zell had agreed to help teach her, as he had wanted to branch out into Doubles, but she was proving less coordinated than she thought. Rinoa had never really been encouraged to do anything physical by her father; he preferred that she stay somewhere safe--usually inside--and gave her a few lessons on distance ways to protect herself. 

Dancing was proving to be a contact sport.

She made a frustrated sound. "I just can't get it!"

Zell backed off and put his hands up. "Well not with that attitude you won't."

"It's not my attitude it's my complete lack of talent. This was a stupid idea!"

So maybe she was letting her frustrations get to her. But it had been two weeks, _Weeks_ , and she'd not shown any sort of progress whatsoever. She kept going left when she should have gone right, stepping on Zell when she should have been separating. And they weren't even trying his style of dance when he did solo; shuffling was far out of her skill level. 

"All ideas can be pretty stupid at first. It isn't like magic, you don't just wake up one day and be coordinated."

Maybe she pouted.

"You seem to have."

Zell was the sort that also laughed with his entire body. It was a full thing and his facial expression so _genuine_ that she couldn't help but laugh too.

"Oh no. I used to be a real loser, instead of just sort of one. Got into fights all the time, picked on, fell on my face a lot... I was heading for a hurtin' almost constantly."

She tried to picture wee Zell getting into fights, his hair sticking up all over the place in a less intentional fashion. He just seemed so _harmless_. There was no way that he was ever threatening to anyone, and they probably beat on him so much harder for it.

"Anyway, so I stumbled onto the Garden scene kind of accidentally. And it... it really dazzled me. I mean, here was this place where all of us misfits could be and do something and with enough work get _good_ at something. Rivalries and all that were handled on the dance floor with our feet, not with our fists."

"Our?" Rinoa almost felt bad for interrupting, because he seemed so passionate about his storytelling.

"Well don't you feel like a misfit sometimes too?"

She felt kind of a good gut-punch at that. Usually people just patronized her, called her Princess, seemed confused as to why she would ever feel lost or unhappy. Zell didn't assume that she was just whining, some poor little rich general's daughter? 

"Yeah. A lot of times." 

She stepped closer, into the dance partner range, and continued. "So why don't we practice some more?"

\---

It was only a matter of time before Father General sent someone out after her. Rinoa had tried to hide the fact she was off learning street dancing, but eventually his paranoia caught up to her.

"What have you been doing in clubs like that?"

"Dancing, Father. Just dancing."

Caraway sighed. "I want to believe you. But do you know what kinds of places Gardens are?"

She thought about what Zell had told her, and how Quistis and Xu seemed unable to relax until they came in through the double door. _Gardens are homes for those that can't feel at home in their own._

"I know what kinds of places you think they are, and how you'll never understand."

"I'm confining you to this house for the remainder of our stay."

She wanted to protest, shout, _hit him_. But it was really futile when he got like that. Hide her away and forget about the fact she was a person, lock her away like valuables. 

Rinoa was going to let down everyone because she couldn't argue with her father.

\---

"Hey!"

Rinoa wasn't exactly sure what day it was, just that it was night now. She'd gone to her room and laid down and not gotten up for some time. Maybe it wasn't the best response to confinement, but she'd never been able to find a better one. Now she was hearing things.

"HEY!"

It was coming from her window! She got up slowly and peered outside. Mismatched clothes and a fedora. Zell! Of course, the window wasn't exactly an easy to open one, considering her father's paranoia. She cranked it as far as it would go.

"Zell, what are you doing here?"

He grinned at her, obviously proud of himself. "Well, you missed a couple of your lessons. And Quistis mentioned something about your dad maybe being a prick?"

"I can't come to any more lessons. He's not just a prick, he's a _controlling_ one."

He made an expansive gesture. "And you're going to let that stop you?"

Rinoa bit her lip. "I can't leave. It... I'd have no where else to go."

Zell shook his head. "We could figure something out. It's just... no one should lock you up, you know? It's wrong. And I'm gonna get you out!"

She really had no idea how he climbed the side of the house like that, and it was a nice gesture and all but the window opening could barely fit her hand through it let alone either of them. But he was close now and they could talk in a conversational tone, at least.

"That's very chivalric of you but really. It's ridiculous."

"Come on. Don't you want an adventure? There has to be a way out."

She thought about the security measures on the house. They weren't as much as their real home; as a vacation home it only had the minimum. Suddenly, Rinoa had an idea. _The service entrance._

"Go around to the side of this house, to your left. I'll meet you there."

Her heart was beating so fast. Did she really know what she was doing? Running off with some guy just because he was teaching her how to dance? But it really hadn't been about the dancing, really. It had been about freedom. Friendship. Love? 

Rinoa had to wait on the night guard to go to a different part of his circuit. She counted the beats in her head in time with his stride. _Three, two... one!_ She was finally at the door. A couple of latches undone and she was out in the night air, blinking to adjust to the darkness.

Zell was waiting. She ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He didn't seem surprised until she kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, are we going or what?"

"Ah, um, sure yeah this way. I got a lot of siblings, but my Ma's cool, is that ah, ok?" 

"Anywhere but here."

He took her hand, and she could see the pink-red creep of embarrassment on his cheek. Maybe their routine was going to change a bit.

Rinoa stopped, though, and turned around to face the house. Someday, she'd be able to tell Father General exactly what she thought. But for now?

"NO ONE PUTS HEARTILLY IN A CORNER!"

After she shouted that, they ran, ran themselves silly. Hand in hand, they chased down the dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU more inspired by Dirty Dancing than directly equating it. Instead of the 60s as viewed by the 80s this is the 80s as viewed by now; so if you catch the other 80s movie references you get a cookie!


End file.
